Many industrial products and processes involve adhering materials together. For example, in rollers used in printers, photocopiers and the like, a material such as rubber or urethane is adhered to a steel mandrel, which has a very poor adhesive interface. In another example, one side of a hook and loop type fastener (commonly known under by trademark VELCRO) may be adhered to a flexible or rigid material or substrate. These are merely examples; the applications for such adhesion processes are virtually infinite.
In some cases a particular adhesive will adhere effectively to a first material but poorly to a second material, while a different adhesive will adhere effectively to the second material but poorly to the first material. Selecting the best adhesive to bond the materials in such a case can be difficult, and conventionally requires a compromise on the part of the manufacturer, since the strength of the bond between the materials will be limited to the lower of the two adhesion strengths.
In other cases it may be desirable or essential to maintain the flexibility of the finished product where a flexible material is adhered to another material, but the most suitable adhesive is rigid. The desirability of retaining flexibility in the finished product may require the use of a flexible adhesive that does not adhere well to one or both of the materials, which can result in composite products of poor quality and/or low durability. Epoxies and other rigid types of adhesives often have a higher adhesion strength and can be used to adhere the flexible material to the substrate; however, while such adhesives provide a stronger bond between the materials, they reduce or substantially eliminate the flexibility of the flexible material and are therefore not suitable for applications in which flexibility is a necessary or desirable feature of the finished product.
It would accordingly be advantageous to be able to utilize any adhesive of choice in processes and products in which two materials are bonded together by an adhesive, regardless of the nature or quality of the adhesive interface provided by the materials. It would be further advantageous to be able to select a flexible adhesive for use in bonding applications which require flexibility of the finished product, while providing a higher degree of adhesion more often characteristic of rigid adhesives.